HAVE A HOLLY, JOLLY SCAM-FREE CHRISTMAS. As retailers hope for a prosperous shopping season, cyber criminals expect to bilk as many consumers as possible out of credit card numbers and their personal identities. According to Consumer Reports` 2009 State of the Net Survey, cyber criminals have racked up more than $8 billion over the last two years from Internet shoppers.

Forrester Research forecasts an active online buying season. It is one where hackers, Internet thieves and other online fraudsters are busy deploying malicious, tactics to abscond consumer's private confidential information. Here are three online scams to avoid:

Hackers are using the season of holiday generosity to exploit consumers' goodwill, sending email requests for contributions for well-known charities. Meanwhile, the ploy is designed to commandeer credit card information, personal identities, and of course donations.

Don't be socially bamboozled by the  "be my friend" request. Programmers are pirating personal information via social networking sites through emails. 

Here's how the scam works: Web criminals email authentic appearing emails from (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) with the ulterior motive to configure malware for the purpose of stealing personal information.  Once the recipient clicks the link, they have virtually relinquished their identity, providing social security numbers, addresses, bank accounts, credit card numbers as well as passwords,

Submitting fake invoices from UPS, Federal Express and U.S. Customs Service, online offenders send email counterfeit notifications, installing malware to intercept credit card and other personal information.

Additional Consumer fraud articles: